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Following the commitment of world leaders to an aspirational limit in global temperature of 1.5 degree increase at the December 2015 COP 21 negotiations (UNFCCC, 2015), it is clear that we need to dramatically change our current development paths if we are to achieve this objective.

What are the next steps for Canadian governments if they are serious about achieving a limit of 1.5 degrees increase and in a time frame that will make a difference for humanity? Are the scholars from Sustainable Canada Dialogues right that we can achieve a carbon neutral economy by 2050 through renewable energy? What kinds of policies and incentives have to be in place to accelerate the pace of change if we are to meet our commitments under COP21? How far does the Vancouver Declaration get us towards 1.5?

What are the Next Steps?
Join us on March 23rd, 10:00am-11:00pm PST or 1:00pm-2:00pm EST, for a wide-ranging conversation on the next steps Canada should take if they are serious about their commitments as a signatory to COP 21.

Hosted by Yuill Herbert from SSG and Marcus Williams from whatif Technologies, they will describe the design of the model with an update of it’s application.
SSG has partnered with whatIf? Technologies, an international leader in simulation modelling, to increase the sophistication, scope and capabilities of GHGProof in a new model – CityInSight. CityInSight also incorporates the Global GHG Protocol for Cities, a GHG accounting framework launched as the new global standard by the World Resources Institute, ICLEI, C40, UN Habitat and others at the UN Conference of the Parties in Lima in 2014..

Friend of SSG, Kevin Anderson at the Tyndall Centre, provides this neat synopsis of the Paris Climate Agreement in an article for Nature Magazine. Impressed and staggered as we all were by the ease of international diplomacy to deliver an ambitious agreement, he shines light on the enormous assumption this is all based on. That to achieve 1.5C in the long term, and thus draw in carbon from the air, will require vastnegative-emissions technologies, one being BECCS programs (biomass energy carbon capture and storage),

“The scale of the assumption is breathtaking. It would be the equivalent of decades of planting and harvesting of energy crops over an area of one to three times that of India.”

A sobering read on the political and economic ideologies we have in place that have muscled out what could be an opportunity for zero carbon solutions to get us to 2C.

Another piece from the Wupper Institute in Germany, Phoenix from the Ashes, published in January agrees with the lack of a legally binding agreement.

A facetious detail perhaps, but the writer also notes how the purpose of the committee has shifted, which was ‘to avoid the dangerous impacts of climate change’, to now acknowledging that ‘all global warming is dangerous’ … so how their role changes, is not clear. In his experience, this multinational agreement will be partly based on what and where in their journey national policies got to in terms of their capabilities and ambitions for reductions.

“The question is therefore not whether the Paris Agreement will deliver the emission reductions necessary, but whether the agreement has the potential to catalyse further changes, whether it becomes a pacemaker for policy processes at the international level and in the capitals of the world. From this perspective, the Paris Agreement is much stronger than many had expected.”

1. It received support from developing countries for including adaptation

2. Using reputational risk as the prime motivator for reporting every five years from 2018

3. Using a transparency framework (yet to be disclosed as to what this would be) for reporting

4. Loss and Damage was included without the financial implications for developed countries in having to compensate developing countries for past emissions

5. Scaling up climate finance is weak, by keeping the same pledge as was made in Copenhagen over a decade ago, “the goal of mobilising an annual USD 100 billion of North-South financial flows in 2020 and beyond.” However, with a new collective target to be agreed in 2025, this figure is now seen as the ‘floor’, rather than ceiling of the financial obligations.

To kickstart 2016, we held a webinar with Yuill from SSG and Marcus from WhatIf Technologies who update us with the launch of CityInSight at COP21 Paris. For those who haven’t been following the development of the model we’ll share the design and application of its use too.

SSG has partnered with whatIf? Technologies, an international leader in simulation modelling, to increase the sophistication, scope and capabilities of GHGProof in a new model – CityInSight. CityInSight also incorporates the Global GHG Protocol for Cities, a GHG accounting framework launched as the new global standard by the World Resources Institute, ICLEI, C40, UN Habitat and others at the UN Conference of the Parties in Lima in 2014.

“The climate crisis calls for courage, compassion & community. It is about peace. It calls for local, national and international solidarity. It asks that we change our lives for the better of the planet and for the collective future of our humanity. Climate change will change everything. This crisis demands that we make peace and sustainability our guiding principles.

We must come together and truly acknowledge how interconnected we all are. We must all add our voices to this urgent call for a just and livable world. The nature of that change is up to all of us – as citizens, consumers, activists, artists, scientists, students, journalists, business people, politicians. This is why we are all here tonight. The time is now.

The UN talks currently taking place need to establish an ambitious and legally binding agreement for our climate and environment. We must move in the direction of 100% clean energy – while evolving more equitable and just societies in the process, rooted in compassion and love for our world.

It is sunny today in Paris and the hallways are buzzing with optimism. A draft text has been passed from the negotiators to the ministers and the text still includes many of the key aspects necessary for a meaningful agreement. Many challenges remain however, and ministers are working on issues such as loss and damage and the ongoing debate over the relationship between developed and developing countries, and the emissions gap between what countries have committed to and what is necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change. Read more

SSG digest from the frontline

On Monday, 150 heads of states established an ambitious and hopeful tone for the negotiations. For a sense of the venue and the mood check out this short video from the UNFCCC.

The negotiations are heating up after little progress by diplomats so far. You can feel the energy levels increasing and the talk becoming more urgent and impassioned at the bargaining table: “We are not making anywhere near the progress we need to be making at this point”, said US official Daniel Reifsnyder, one of the two co-chairmen of the negotiations. Read more

The Canadian climate change and urban planning consultancy SSG launched CityInSight: an open source energy, emissions and finances model for cities, at COP21 in Paris this week.

“Cities are demonstrating the will to take on energy and emissions challenges. CityInSight enables cities to rigorously explore the impact of policies and investments on the transition to a low or zero carbon future, “ said Yuill Herbert, Director at SSG.

CityInSight is a sophisticated model with integrated spatially-explicit land-use and transportation components, and stocks-and-flows accounting. It analyses the impact of land-use and policy scenarios on energy, emissions and theirassociated financial and employment metrics. You can listen to the recording of the seminar we held in Le Bourget, at COP21 on 2nd December. (It starts 1:30 minutes in, and make sure your volume is turned up high..)

The common thread through tonight’s event, as asked by Rob Hopkins, the founder of the Transition Towns movement and host of this evening, was the humility, lack of ego and localised thinking. In communities across the world from South Africa to Brazil, the collective brain of the community instinctually and creatively solved a single issue, that spiralled into easing a host of wider problems, as a result of this collaborative effort. The more actors you have in the decision making, the more needs are satisfied. Of the fifteen projects featured from his book 21 Stories of Transition and those we heard from, highlights were a project in France that not only brought together the diversity of seeds, but also diversity of language by including labels for the plants in Latin, in French and the local dialect, that reinvigorated the community again. Read more

“PATHWAY TO PARIS” FINAL CONCERT EVENT WILL GO ON AT LE TRIANON, PARIS ON DECEMBER 4th & 5th 2015

In light of the recent tragedies in Paris and Beirut, we would like to continue with the Pathway to Paris concerts and bring our voices together in solidarity, offering our love and commitment to a sustainable world.

Pathway to Paris is a call for peace, compassion, respect, equality, justice, love, human rights and a fight for the survival of our planet. It is about bringing together our voices to highlight our love for this world.

We feel the urgency to come together and build a global movement for climate justice, recognizing that climate change and its challenges interconnects us all.

The upcoming climate change talks offer an enormous opportunity to send a clear signal that the world is moving away from fossil fuels and towards a renewable energy future, while listening and problem solving with voices from around the world.

Pathway to Paris is an initiative in partnership with 350.org that brings together musicians, artists, activists, academics, politicians and innovators to participate in a series of events and dialogues to help raise consciousness around the urgency of climate action and the importance of establishing an ambitious, global, legally binding agreement at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in December 2015.

Co-founded by musicians Jesse Paris Smith and Rebecca Foon, Pathway to Paris kicked off with an intimate evening of music and speakers at Le Poisson Rouge immediately following the People’s Climate March in New York City in September 2014, with a series of similar events unfolding in New York and Montreal over the ensuing year. The final Pathway to Paris concerts will take place December 4th & 5th 2015 in Paris and will include the musicians and speakers listed below (among others still to be announced):

All participants donate their time, skills and talents; while the primary aim of P2P is consciousness-raising and call-to-action, the events also raise funds, with all proceeds going to 350.org. Pathway to Paris is supported by Ben & Jerry’s, in collaboration with 350.org, with additional support from the United Nations Development Program, Tree Laboratory, Sustainability Solutions Group, NextGen Climate America and Modo Yoga NYC.